If you have diabetes, you know how important lifestyle nutritional dietary choices are for controlling your blood sugar levels. If you struggle with what to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, read on! We’ll reveal a 24-hour meal plan for individuals with diabetes.

24-hour diabetic meal plan

Even though the term “high protein diet” varies in definition from one study to the next, evidence supports the idea that eating 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight results in less hunger, reduced appetite, increased energy levels, and preservation or increased blood sugar levels. A recent meta-analysis study of 74 randomized controlled trials showed that eating higher protein diets significantly reduced cardiometabolic risk factors and risk factors for diabetes, body weight, BMI, weight circumference, blood pressure, triglycerides, fasting insulin. Both vegetarian and animal proteins should offer the same benefits. One study showed no significant difference between protein from animal sources and protein from vegetarian sources.

What cannot be ignored, however, is the way in which the protein food sources are prepared. The cost of high-heat cooking in a randomized controlled study showed that high-heat cooking had negative effects on diabetes. This applies to methods of cooking including boiling, poaching, stewing, steaming, rather than frying, baking, or grilling. The premise of the study was that harsher cooking methods increased the formation of advanced glycation end-products (or AGEs) that exacerbate insulin resistance. The study showed that consuming high heat cooking foods showed more signs of inflammation and more signs of glycolysis and poor glucose control.

In fact, the order in which we eat our meals can also influence insulin sensitivity, even though most people don’t consider this in their dietary routines. A study showed that both blood sugar and insulin levels were lower after meals that started with protein and veggies before carbohydrates, compared to eating carbohydrates first. So even the order in which you eat foods is important.

Finally, vinegar shots or apple cider vinegar before meals has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity.

Breakfast: poached eggs with spinach, cottage cheese and avocado, flaxseed slider, green tea

When it comes to breakfast, we want high protein and lots of colors. The adage goes, “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper”. We want a lot of calories for breakfast so it sustains your energy and blood sugar levels throughout the day.

A great breakfast recipe is poached eggs over a bed of spinach. Eggs are rich in protein and the yolk of eggs are high in carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin. Poached eggs are great because we can avoid high-temperature cooking that can cause problems for diabetic patients. Plus, poaching an egg does not break the yolk, therefore, the cholesterol within the yolk does not become oxidized so it’s much safer for your overall health.

How do you best poach an egg? Take a medium size saucepan and fill it up halfway with water. Put it on medium heat. Put about a tablespoon of white vinegar to help congeal the egg whites. Crack two eggs into a small bowl while the water is heating up. Take a wooden spoon and start swirling the water. Then, take the small bowl and pour the eggs into the swirling water. When done, use a slotted spoon to take out the eggs and place on a bed of cooked spinach and/or lettuce.

To add more colors to this plate (remember, the more colourful, the better), you can also add bit of bell peppers, green onions, shredded cheese, and even some salsa for an extra kick!

As a side to your high-protein breakfast, have some cottage cheese with sliced avocados. You’ll get healthy fatty acids from the avocado, and more proteins from the cottage cheese. You can add some berries, raspberries, blueberries, nuts, almond or pumpkin seeds, for some powerful antioxidants.

Have a cup of green tea to get some antioxidants. You can also make a flaxseed slider as a source of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. All you need is about a tablespoon of flaxseed in a shot glass, fill it half-full with water, and let it soak overnight so the flaxseed soaks up the water. In the morning, down it like a shot!

This is going to be high protein, high antioxidant to help support your blood sugar levels.

Lunch: Green salad and coconut bean soup

If you have diabetes, try this salad and soup for lunch. It’s high in protein and packed full of anti-inflammatory agents. This green salad is a version of the Cobb salad or Chef’s salad. It contains a mixture of spinach, mixed greens, butter bibb lettuce, hard-boiled egg, turkey bacon, sliced avocados, sliced or diced tomatoes, chicken, cheese (blue cheese is traditional in a Cobb salad but you can use any shredded or sliced cheese you wish), topped off with cranberries, green onions, and roasted beets.

It is recommended to slow cook the chicken with olive oil and lots of herbs and spices over the stove. It typically takes about half an hour, but those slow cooking methods or sure worth it versus high-temperature cooking methods. For the roasted beets, slice them and put them on a baking sheet. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary over the top, and stick it in the oven. For the dressing, use 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar, one tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 2/3 cup of olive oil, salt, pepper, and infuse with herbs.

A great soup for a diabetic is a coconut bean soup because beans really help to control blood sugar levels. You get the benefits of the MCT that’s contained in coconut and all of the benefits of coconut milk.

You’ll need one can of rinsed and drained black beans, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of coconut milk, one cup of vegetable broth, two chopped green onions, a tablespoon each of ginger, cumin, turmeric, two cloves of garlic chopped, salt, pepper, and fresh chopped parsley for the topping.

Combine the black beans, tomatoes, coconut milk, vegetable broth, green onions, ginger, cumin, turmeric, and garlic in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until it achieves the consistency that you’re like (usually half an hour should do it). Season with salt and pepper, and top with parsley. It’s simple and delicious!

Dinner: Basil pesto salmon with broccoli and whipped cauliflower

Salmon is a great option for dinner. You can get a wild salmon fillet and marinate it for a bit with honey, herbs, and spices for a delicious meal. Choose wild salmon typically from the Pacific Northwest or Alaska because it contains significantly less heavy metals and pesticides and other toxins that are found in farm-raised salmon. You can also top the salmon with basil pesto and receive the antioxidant effects of basil along with the essential fatty acids in the salmon.

For some greens on the dinner table, make some steamed broccoli. It’s super easy, all you have to do is steam broccoli for about 10-15 minutes and then put herbs and spices on top.

As a great alternative to mashed potatoes, make yourself some whipped cauliflower. Place the cauliflower in a steamer for about 10-15 minutes just to break it down a little, then saute in olive oil for about five minutes or so before adding some herbs and spices to it. Then, put it in a blender and whip into a smooth consistency.

Snacks: Hummus with vegetables/apples, avocado, hard-boiled egg

If you have diabetes you know how important it is to keep your blood sugar levels stable and level throughout the day. In addition to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, incorporating at least a few healthy high protein snacks is very important. What are the options?

• Hummus with vegetables or apples
• An avocado
• A hard-boiled egg
• Celery or apple with almond butter or peanut butter
• Nuts and seeds. A great snack high in fatty acids that are good for diabetes.
• Yogurt with fresh berries
• Tuna salad. Drain the tuna, put it in a bowl, add some olive oil, chopped celery, some relish, and some herbs and spices.
• Popcorn
• Edamame. Boil for five minutes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

So that wraps up the 24-hour meal plan for diabetes that helps to level blood sugars, control blood sugars, and potentially reverse the effects of high blood sugars and diabetes.

Now, obviously these are just a few recipes, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. You should explore with high protein meals and meal colors. It’s recommended to include nine meal colors every single day and have a high protein diet of at least 0.8 milligrams per kilogram body weight of protein. If you have recipes and dietary regimens and plans, post them in the comments so that others can learn from you.

We’ve actually created a supplement called Blood Sugar Premiere which helps to control blood sugar levels. Check it out and let us know what you think!

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